Campbell v. Air Jamaica Ltd., 12–14860.

Citation760 F.3d 1165
Decision Date08 July 2014
Docket NumberNo. 12–14860.,12–14860.
PartiesAllan CAMPBELL, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. AIR JAMAICA LTD., Caribbean Airlines, Defendants–Appellees.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit)

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Stephen F. Rosenthal, Podhurst Orseck, PA, Miami, FL, for PlaintiffAppellant.

Allan Campbell, Miami Gardens, FL, pro se.

Vanessa Sisti Snyder, U.S. Attorney's Office, Carol Ann Licko, Julie E. Nevins, Hogan Lovells US, LLP, Miami, FL, Hagan Scotten, Hogan Lovells US, LLP, John Maggio, Condon & Forsyth, LLP, New York, NY, Robert C. Owens, Robert C. Owens, PA d/b/A Avlaw, Homestead, FL, for DefendantsAppellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. D.C. Docket No. 1:11–cv–23233–JLK.

Before MARCUS, Circuit Judge, and COOGLER * and BOWEN, ** District Judges.

MARCUS, Circuit Judge:

First, Allan Campbell's Air Jamaica flight from Kingston to Fort Lauderdale was delayed. Hours passed. Once given the go-ahead to board, he says, he was recalled to the boarding gate and forced to reschedule to another departure the next day—when his permanent resident alien card would expire. Air Jamaica charged him a $150 fee to change flights and refused to put him up in a hotel. Terminal repairs left him to spend the night outside, exposed to the elements. As Campbell put it in his complaint, the ordeal took its toll: he was hospitalized with a heart attack after falling ill during the delay, seeking medical help upon arrival, and collapsing at his home.

Campbell's claims for damages are governed by the Montreal Convention, a multilateral treaty setting rules for international air travel. He seeks recovery against Air Jamaica and Caribbean Airlines under Article 19, which concerns damages due to delay, and Article 17, which addresses accidents that injure passengers on board a plane or during the course of embarkation or disembarkation. The district court dismissed Campbell's amended complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. We disagree because Article 33 of the Montreal Convention grants the district court the power to hear his claims. Nevertheless, we affirm the dismissal on alternative grounds to the extent that Campbell failed to state claims against the defendants. Campbell did state an Article 19 claim against Air Jamaica, but only for economic damages from the $150 change fee. He stated no Article 17 claim, however, because he did not allege injuries caused by an “accident” that occurred “on board the aircraft or in the course of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking.” And Campbell stated no claim against Caribbean Airlines, which he did not name in the substance of the amended complaint. We therefore vacate the dismissal of the Article 19 claim against Air Jamaica for damages from the $150 fee, and remand only as to that issue. We affirm the dismissal of all other claims.

I.

On December 12, 2011, pro se plaintiff Allan Campbell filed an amended complaint against Air Jamaica Ltd. and Caribbean Airlines (collectively, Defendants) that alleged the following essential facts.1 Campbell had a ticket for a September 8, 2009, Air Jamaica flight from Kingston, Jamaica, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He arrived three hours early for the flight, which was then delayed four hours. Campbell was cleared to board at the check-in counter and given a boarding pass with a seat number. After passing through security and getting “the go-ahead to board,” he proceeded to embark on the flight, but was recalled back to the boarding gate, where he was told that he would not be accommodated on the flight and should arrange to depart on the next flight, the following day. When Campbell returned to the check-in counter, an agent told him to pay a $150 change fee to travel on a flight the next day. He eventually paid the fee. Meanwhile, the agent refused to accommodate Campbell at a hotel that night, which left him stranded at the airport. Because of airport construction, Campbell claimed, he spent the night outside the terminal building in adverse weather.

The complaint alleged that the airline agent acted negligently by “bumping [Campbell] from the flight and abandoning” him, as well as by charging him for rebooking. Campbell stated that the delay and abandonment were the sole cause of his heart attack. He claimed that he started feeling ill from the effects of the initial four-hour flight delay at the Kingston airport, that he sought medical attention at the Fort Lauderdale airport, and that he collapsed at home in Miami, where he was ultimately taken to a hospital. Campbell stated that his injuries were aggravated by additional delay when his daughter was unable to leave work to pick him up from the airport. The amended complaint alleged that Defendants had breached Article 19 of the Montreal Convention, which caused Campbell to suffer $5,000,000 in general, unspecified damages.

Air Jamaica moved to dismiss the amended complaint, arguing that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction because Campbell did not state a cognizable Montreal Convention claim, that any such claims were time-barred, and that Campbell failed to state a claim for negligence or breach of contract under state law. Caribbean Airlines moved to dismiss on the ground that Campbell's action was time-barred, though it conceded that the district court had subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to the Montreal Convention. Campbell responded to Air Jamaica's motion by arguing that both Articles 17 and 19 of the Montreal Convention covered this case, since the “accident” occurred when Campbell was in the process of boarding the flight. He also argued that his action was not time-barred because the amended complaint did not constitute the filing of a new case and his original complaint was filed within the statute of limitations. Air Jamaica and Caribbean Airlines replied, reiterating their earlier arguments.

The district court dismissed the case with prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, concluding that Campbell did not state claims under the Montreal Convention. The court found that he sought only “damages for the suffering of pure emotional distress and anxiety, which are not recoverable under Article 19.” In addition, the district court explained that Article 17 provided Campbell no relief because neither flight delay nor bumping constitute a requisite “accident.” The court did not reach the question of whether the claims were time-barred. Campbell filed a timely appeal.2

II.
A.

We review de novo the district court's dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Foy v. Schantz, Schatzman & Aaronson, P.A., 108 F.3d 1347, 1348 (11th Cir.1997). We also review de novo whether the district court properly construed the terms of the Montreal Convention. Piamba Cortes v. Am. Airlines, Inc., 177 F.3d 1272, 1280 (11th Cir.1999).

We hold the allegations of a pro se complaint to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers. Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972). Accordingly, we construe Campbell's pleadings liberally. Alba v. Montford, 517 F.3d 1249, 1252 (11th Cir.2008). “Yet even in the case of pro se litigants this leniency does not give a court license to serve as de facto counsel for a party, or to rewrite an otherwise deficient pleading in order to sustain an action.” GJR Invs., Inc. v. Cnty. of Escambia, Fla., 132 F.3d 1359, 1369 (11th Cir.1998) (citations omitted).

B.

The district court stated that it dismissed Campbell's claims “with prejudice ... for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.” But the Montreal Convention grants the district court the power to hear the case. Article 33 provides that a plaintiff may bring an action for damages under the Convention “before the court at the place of destination.” The amended complaint alleges, and the Defendants do not dispute, that Campbell's flight landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, making the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida a court of competent jurisdiction.

Despite describing its order as jurisdictional, the district court justified dismissal on the ground that Campbell failed to state a claim under the Convention.3 In other words, at issue was not whether the district court had the power to adjudicate Montreal Convention claims brought by Campbell, but instead whether Campbell had alleged sufficient facts to support a claim under Articles 17 or 19. Such a failure to state a cause of action does not defeat jurisdiction. Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. 678, 682, 66 S.Ct. 773, 90 L.Ed. 939 (1946). After all, [w]hether the complaint states a cause of action on which relief could be granted is a question of law and just as issues of fact it must be decided after and not before the court has assumed jurisdiction over the controversy.” Id.; accord Barnett v. Bailey, 956 F.2d 1036, 1040–41 (11th Cir.1992); Delta Coal Program v. Libman, 743 F.2d 852, 855 (11th Cir.1984). While “a suit may sometimes be dismissed for want of jurisdiction where the alleged claim under the Constitution or federal statutes clearly appears to be immaterial and made solely for the purpose of obtaining jurisdiction or where such a claim is wholly insubstantial and frivolous,” those exceptions do not apply here. Bell, 327 U.S. at 682–83, 66 S.Ct. 773.

Defendants' arguments for dismissal thus sound in Rule 12(b)(6) (“failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted”), not 12(b)(1) (“lack of subject-matter jurisdiction”). The district court recognized this, regardless of the label it applied, because the court dismissed with prejudice, which is fitting for failure to state a claim, instead of without prejudice, which is appropriate for jurisdictional decisions. See Hitt v. City of Pasadena, 561 F.2d 606, 608 (5th Cir.1977)4 (per curiam) (“Dismissal with prejudice for failure to state a claim is a decision on the merits and essentially ends the plaintiff's lawsuit, whereas a dismissal on...

To continue reading

Request your trial
556 cases
  • Tedder v. Inch
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida
    • March 1, 2021
    ...citation omitted), overruled in part on other grounds as recognized in Randall, 610 F.3d at 709); see also Campbell v. Air Jamaica Ltd., 760 F.3d 1165, 1168-69 (11th Cir. 2014).IV. Summary of the Arguments Defendants PRIDE, Green, Griffis, and Inch request dismissal of Tedder's claims again......
  • Osborne v. Carey, CIVIL ACTION NO. 2:16-cv-01651
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of West Virginia
    • March 8, 2017
    ...arguments for him," Small v. Endicott, 998 F.2d 411, 417-18 (7th Cir. 1993) (citation omitted). See also Campbell v. Air Jamaica Ltd., 760 F.3d 1165, 1168-69 (11th Cir. 2014) ("[E]ven in the case of pro se litigants this leniency does not give a court license to serve as de facto counsel fo......
  • Kennedy v. Warren Props., LLC, CIVIL ACTION NO. 17-00114-KD-N
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama
    • November 7, 2017
    ...de facto counsel for a party, or to rewrite an otherwise deficient pleading in order to sustain an action." Campbell v. Air Jamaica Ltd., 760 F.3d 1165, 1168-69 (11th Cir. 2014) (quotation omitted).II. The Complaint Per the well-pleaded allegations in Plaintiff D. Angelina Kennedy's amended......
  • Cottrell v. U.S. Dep't of Educ.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of Florida
    • December 30, 2019
    ..."less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers" and accordingly construe it "liberally." Campbell v. Air Jamaica Ltd. , 760 F.3d 1165, 1168 (11th Cir. 2014) (citation omitted).III. DiscussionThe DOE argues that this action should be dismissed on two primary bases: (1) Co......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT